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Something that downloads information from the web is called an "agent". A browser is a specific type of agent called a "user agent". Calling agents "microbrowse

Something that downloads information from the web is called an "agent". A browser is a specific type of agent called a "user agent". Calling agents "microbrowsers" creates an odd curvle circle: user agents are browsers which are agents which can be microbrowsers which are user agents, etc. Just thought it was interesting

BubRoss 7y ago
I can't tell if common things getting redefined is mostly from clueless journalists or clueless tech workers that think they are inventing everything for the first time in their first year on the job.
- goodmachine 7y ago
  The latter, I think.
- thrower123 7y ago
  I think there is a lot of both, but there's also so much churn and so little historical knowledge propagated through the profession that people just keep reinventing wheels because they don't know they've already been invented. Every revolution of the hamster wheel does seem to get us a few inches ahead, but refighting the same battles and redoing the same work gets very wearisome. And I'm not even that old; I don't know how the people twice my age that are still in this business can avoid being hopelessly jaded.
  - jacobush 7y ago
    My favorite is how Node.Js now finally has implemented most wheels. It was a rough ride for a while. Seems every language is a very effective silo, or every runtime, rather. The .NET languages stand out.
  - MayeulC 7y ago
    I keep thinking that we might see a second "information age" the day we can reliably find something in the large ammount of data we have been piling up recently (is there such a thing as the "data age"?). Neural networks might be the beginning, but if we stop reinventing wheels, we could become a whole lot more productive. Are there good documents regarding "capitalism" (I guess; constantly reinventing better wheels) vs other systems (reusing already designed wheels, however square), in domains other than financial: what the tradeofs are, how much worse your existing wheel can be before you start to feel it, potential for innovation, etc. Free software might side with the later, but I'd like an analytical exploration.
lucideer 7y ago
It's not so much a circle as just a newly coined term for "agent": user agent ~= browser agent ~= microbrowser The terms on the left seem more technical/archaic, those on the right seem more populist/accessible. On the other hand, since this one blogger seems to be the inventor of the term "microbrowser", it's still going to be ambiguous: easily confused with potential alternative definitions such as "lightweight browser", "headless browser" (e.g. selenium webdriver), "browser with low market share", etc.
acdha 7y ago
They cover this in the article, carefully describe a “microbrowser” as a subset of agents which are closer to full browsers: “Microbrowsers are a class of User-Agents that also visit website links, parse HTML and generate a user experience. But unlike those traditional browsers, the HTML parsing is limited and the rendering engine is singularly focused.” This seems like a reasonable distinction, especially since many people are used to thinking of “browser” as something which does a lot of work (parsing, JavaScript execution, etc.) which aren't implemented in this class of agent.
andy_ppp 7y ago
I feel this might be a good way to explain to non technical people all sorts of software is “browsing” the web for small bits of data “micro” without their specific permission. So I think it’s more helpful than harmful.
deleted 7y ago
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BubRoss 7y ago

I can't tell if common things getting redefined is mostly from clueless journalists or clueless tech workers that think they are inventing everything for the first time in their first year on the job.

goodmachine 7y ago
The latter, I think.
thrower123 7y ago
I think there is a lot of both, but there's also so much churn and so little historical knowledge propagated through the profession that people just keep reinventing wheels because they don't know they've already been invented. Every revolution of the hamster wheel does seem to get us a few inches ahead, but refighting the same battles and redoing the same work gets very wearisome. And I'm not even that old; I don't know how the people twice my age that are still in this business can avoid being hopelessly jaded.
- jacobush 7y ago
  My favorite is how Node.Js now finally has implemented most wheels. It was a rough ride for a while. Seems every language is a very effective silo, or every runtime, rather. The .NET languages stand out.
- MayeulC 7y ago
  I keep thinking that we might see a second "information age" the day we can reliably find something in the large ammount of data we have been piling up recently (is there such a thing as the "data age"?). Neural networks might be the beginning, but if we stop reinventing wheels, we could become a whole lot more productive. Are there good documents regarding "capitalism" (I guess; constantly reinventing better wheels) vs other systems (reusing already designed wheels, however square), in domains other than financial: what the tradeofs are, how much worse your existing wheel can be before you start to feel it, potential for innovation, etc. Free software might side with the later, but I'd like an analytical exploration.

lucideer 7y ago

It's not so much a circle as just a newly coined term for "agent": user agent ~= browser agent ~= microbrowser The terms on the left seem more technical/archaic, those on the right seem more populist/accessible. On the other hand, since this one blogger seems to be the inventor of the term "microbrowser", it's still going to be ambiguous: easily confused with potential alternative definitions such as "lightweight browser", "headless browser" (e.g. selenium webdriver), "browser with low market share", etc.

acdha 7y ago

They cover this in the article, carefully describe a “microbrowser” as a subset of agents which are closer to full browsers: “Microbrowsers are a class of User-Agents that also visit website links, parse HTML and generate a user experience. But unlike those traditional browsers, the HTML parsing is limited and the rendering engine is singularly focused.” This seems like a reasonable distinction, especially since many people are used to thinking of “browser” as something which does a lot of work (parsing, JavaScript execution, etc.) which aren't implemented in this class of agent.

andy_ppp 7y ago

I feel this might be a good way to explain to non technical people all sorts of software is “browsing” the web for small bits of data “micro” without their specific permission. So I think it’s more helpful than harmful.

deleted 7y ago

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